1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a food or drink containing a fructose polymer mainly composed of .beta.-2,1-bond, hereinafter referred to as "polyfructan", as a substitute for oils, fats, and sugars and having improved gel properties compared with foods containing other oil, fat, or sugar substitutes and a creamy taste and texture equivalent to that derived from oils and fats and a method of producing such a food or drink.
2. Discussion of the Background
In recent years, problems of obesity and hyperlipemia have increased due to excessive consumption of oils, fats, sugars, etc., and decreased consumption of dietary fibers. It has been suggested that certain adult diseases, which are leading causes of death, such as cancer, heart diseases, etc., are associated with excessive consumption of oils, fats, and sugars and decreased consumption of dietary fibers. For these reasons, a low calorie diet has been hitherto prepared by adding sugar alcohols, gum substances, emulsion stabilizers, etc., to foods as substitutes for oils, fats, and sugars.
Examples of low calorie diet foods and methods for preparing the same include: a method for preparing cream or paste for confectioneries or baked goods (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 60-66936), soybean milk cream for coffee (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 60-153755), low fat, foamable oil in water emulsified fat (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 62-22563), low fat cream for whipping and a method for the preparation thereof (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 62-118855), low fat spread (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 62-232335) and low fat coffee whitener (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 63-87942).
In order to substitute a low calorie sweetener having a high degree of sweetness, such as aspartame, for sugar, it is necessary to compensate for the lack of sugar-like volume and texture of the low calorie sweetener by adding a filler comprising a low calorie sugar or gelation material such as polydextrose. However, fillers tend to cause a heavy or "pasty" texture and/or an undesirable taste and flavor in the foods in which they are used.
The substitution of sugar alcohols, gum substances, emulsion stabilizers, etc., for oils and fats tends to dilute the rich taste and flavor of foods. For example, the creamy good-taste and smoothness of ice cream that results when fresh cream is used is seriously damaged when conventional cream substitutes are used. When low calorie materials such as polydextrose of Pfizer Co. or dextrin (Paselli SA-2) of Abebe Co. are used in food as substitutes for oils and fats, the food acquires a sour, pungent, or astringent taste or a floury flavor. These conventional low calorie materials used to reduce the amount of sugar or to increase bulk and texture or to create a creamy taste and texture fail to provide adequate taste and flavor. In addition, these materials tend to detrimentally affect such physical properties of food as shape retention, extensibility, stringiness, etc.